Monday, February 16, 2015

A puzzle

It is a conundrum, a puzzle, and it is very difficult to solve, but you're probably smart enough.
Here is the set up:
We work in tandem, a bunch of clerks, pages, whatever you call us. One
of us works in one place for an hour or two, and then another of us
comes along to replace the first. Some of these jobs are very diffuse.
You arrive to do the job and it is impossible to tell if the person
working there before you has been working very hard or has hardly been
working at all. Some jobs are mostly at the whim of whatever comes to
you at the time you are there. At the front desk, for instance, you are
either busy or not, and it is beyond your control. But some jobs are
very specific. Some jobs have very measurable work. There were two full
bins here at the start of the hour, now there are none.
Here is the puzzling scenario:
The person before you, at the station you will be going to work at, has
two bins. If they work very hard they will get both bins done. If they
poke around on the Internet, and sit around chatting, and generally just do
their own thing, they will get close to nothing done. If that person
does the work and finishes the two bins, then, really, the fair thing is that when it's your turn you step up and
work pretty hard too. They have set a standard worth living up to. It is
time to step up to this high standard! The only problem is that now
there is no work to do! On the other hand, if they have lazed about the
whole time that they were over there, sitting around with all those still full bins, then, well,
that's pretty disrespectful to you, and the whole stupid place you work at is
falling apart anyway, and the hell with it, don't you deserve a little
downtime? You do. You do deserve downtime! So you might as well do nothing. The only problem is that you're now totally backed up, and you really need to get to work, which is
really too unfair for words.

In short: When it is right and good for you to work hard there is nothing much to do, and when you richly deserve to take it easy you are swamped.
Fortunately, as these are the two extremes, I am only faced with this terrible puzzle occasionally. There
is, of course, one solution to it, and I am guessing you have already
smoked it out:
You march right into your supervisors office, and you say, without
equivocation or hesitation, "I have a terrible headache. I
think I'd better go home."
And then you do.

If you were wondering, yes, you should comment. Not only does it remind me that I must write in intelligible English because someone is actually reading what I write, but it is also a pleasure for me since I am interested in anything you have to say.

I respond to pretty much every comment. It's like a free personalized blog post!

One last detail: If you are commenting on a post more than two weeks old I have to go in and approve it. It's sort of a spam protection device. Also, rarely, a comment will go to spam on its own. Give either of those a day or two and your comment will show up on the blog.

Not so entertaining sort of legal exclaimer that seems wise to post if you think about it

I in no way speak on behalf of or in any way for the Library I work for, though if they would like me to I am sure we can come to an agreement.

My blog is not written or worked on during paid time and if it ever appears to be that is only for narrative umph and to reflect on my thought processes and experience as things happened.

Things here are fictionalized and obscured sometimes, and though I stand behind my portrayl of the spirit and feel of things it would be wrong to ascribe too much to a specific Library, event, or person.